Canadian Survey on Business Conditions ResultsThe Canadian Survey on Business Conditions (CSBC), a joint effort between Statistics Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, provides the most detailed insight yet into the impact of COVID-19 on Canadian businesses.

The survey is Canada’s first comprehensive view into how our businesses are adapting, managing or, sadly, failing as the COVID-19 shutdown continues. Insights from 12,600 businesses bring into focus the time pressures businesses face to avoid closing their doors permanently. At the same time, the survey also shows how quickly the businesses that can are adapting to social distancing and preparing for the re-opening of the economy. The survey provides critical information for governments as they develop and deliver their programs.

The CBSC examined issues like the COVID-19’s impact on businesses, how businesses have adapted to the ongoing situation, challenges they continue to face and those they expect as the recovery begins. The survey was in market between April 4, 2020 and April 24, 2020.

Smaller businesses hit 50% harder by COVID-19The Canadian Survey on Business Conditions demonstrates some surprising resilience of small- and medium-sized businesses despite having outsized disadvantages when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.Learn more

#TeamPtbo surveys are now closed. Thank you to all the businesses that took the time to participate in these surveys. ​​#TeamPtbo

​MEDIA RELEASE – Thursday, March 26, 2020[PETERBOROUGH, ON]: Financial continuity, customer declines and staff not being able to work are the three major concerns for over 330 local businesses regarding COVID-19, based on the first results of #TeamPTBO’s Business Impact Survey.

#TeamPTBO (Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development, the Peterborough DBIA, the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures Peterborough and Innovation Cluster – Peterborough and the Kawarthas) had issued a Business Impact Survey on Monday, March 16th to identify how the impact of COVID-19 will be hardest felt by the local business community. The service, retail, manufacturing and culinary sectors were the top four most responsive sectors in the survey.

“A sincere thank you goes out to all those businesses that took the time to participate in the first survey. We’ve heard you, all of you, loud and clear,” Rhonda Keenan, President & CEO of Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development, said. “We recognize that circumstances are changing rapidly in this new environment and we thank all businesses for doing their part by closing down when necessary, offering work from home solutions and immediately adapting their operations to mitigate the impact of this pandemic.”​The main takeaways from the 335 businesses that filled out the first Business Impact Survey from March 16-22 include:

Financial support, of some type, was the most-referred-to issue when respondents were asked about what specific assistance they required. Wage subsidies (revenue) for workers employed and owners unemployed (20%), interest leniency (8.5%), rent relief (6%) and deferral of taxes (3.5%) were the most mentioned topics.

Other respondents mentioned marketing assistance, human resources support and help finding workers as other needs in this crisis.

For the service sector, financial continuity and customer declines were the two largest concerns. Manufacturing has an almost equal distribution between financial continuity, customer declines, supply chain distribution and staff not being able to work. This could potentially signal a more diverse crisis in manufacturing. While retail and culinary sectors both placed more emphasis on financial continuity and customer declines.

​“I can’t overstate how valuable local businesses’ input and feedback for this survey are to us. We need local business owners to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible about how this unprecedented pandemic is impacting their business and how #TeamPTBO can help with the creation of immediate and longer term solutions,” Keenan said. “All of the survey data and information will be used to communicate what specific needs are the most vital to the business community. These data sets will then be used to inform the programs and services set up by the Federal and Provincial government as well as local service providers such as Community Futures Peterborough to help local business rebound from this unfortunate situation.”